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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26963212">Rebirth (Say It One More Time)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Molotov_Man/pseuds/Molotov_Man'>Molotov_Man</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Nejiten Oneshots [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Love Confessions, angsty beginning, fluff ending, theyre babes...just babes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 19:54:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,046</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26963212</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Molotov_Man/pseuds/Molotov_Man</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Choosing your last words is a heavy price to pay for dying in peace. But some things need to be said despite time and place.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hyuuga Neji/Tenten</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Nejiten Oneshots [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1996492</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Rebirth (Say It One More Time)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>self-indulgence at its finest. enjoy</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It wasn’t the first injury, but it was nearly the last: there was nothing quite so devastating for Neji Hyuuga as seeing Tenten take a kunai to the stomach through his Byakugan. It was quick, clean, disturbingly accurate. Neji felt as if his ribs were about to give way and collapse into his stomach.</p><p>“Tenten!” He couldn’t help the desperate yell, nor the surge of adrenaline that followed and decimated his opponent.</p><p>He slid to the earth beside her while Lee anxiously fought off the remaining threats — it was a great show of trust that Neji allowed him to handle security instead of insisting that he fall back. However, Tenten had always been one to turn the tables for Neji. In his chest, Neji knew that Lee could recognize his need to be with her.</p><p>“Tenten, hey, look at me,” Neji put one hand on her cheek and the other against the spot where the blade was buried in her torso.</p><p>“Hey, Neji...” she smiled softly. “Have I ever told you that you’re pretty?”</p><p>She had, in fact, drunkenly. Neji remembered it like it played in constant loop on his corneas. “Shh, Tenten, just hang on for me. Stay awake.”</p><p>“I’m real tired, Neji.”</p><p>Neji’s eyes filled with tears and he tried in vain to choke them back. “I know, you have to stay awake though. Stay awake for me, Ten,”</p><p>“Neji,”</p><p>“No, Tenten. Don’t start,”</p><p>“I needa tell you something,”</p><p>“No, you don’t. It can wait until tomorrow.”</p><p>“Neji. I’m dying,”</p><p>“No, you’re not! I’m here, I’ll fix this, I won’t let anything take you from me,”</p><p>Her eyes dropped shut with a stuttering sigh. “You’re my moon,”</p><p>Lee ripped off his weights and appeared with them at his full speed. Assessing rapidly, he split off towards the village, not voicing his plans but clearly making out for a medic.</p><p>Neji began crying in earnest now, confronted with the only thing that could really end him. “N-no, please, Tenten,”</p><p>Her hand shook violently but she managed to move it over his, blood covering them both. Tenten’s blood. “It’s alright, baby. I love you,”</p><p>“Take that back! I won’t let you tell me that now, you can tell me tomorrow, you can tell me back in the village,”</p><p>“Neji,” she cracked her eyes open, willing herself to look at him one more time. “It’s okay. I-I’m ready to die, y’know. I’m a shinobi,”</p><p>Neji sobbed and it wracked his whole body. “Tenten, you’re one of the greatest shinobi I’ll ever know, and I won’t let you die. Not like this, not here.”</p><p>Tenten squeezed his hand weakly. “I’ve never seen you cry before. I don’t think anyone has. It’s an honor.”</p><p>Her voice was soft and genuine, which only made Neji cry harder, in the largest show of emotion he’d made since he was a child. It was over for him, now, it didn’t matter; he wouldn’t make it through losing her, not on top of everything else. </p><p>“That’s what I’ll regret, Neji. Is never getting to build anything with you. Did you want that? Did you ever...like me?”</p><p>“Tenten,” his pearly eyes locked with her dark ones, blood running through their joined fingers in poetic horror. “We...we can get married. Marry me,”</p><p>She smiled, closed her eyes again, too tired to hold them open. “The Hyuuga clan would never let you.”</p><p>“I don’t care, I don’t care about them. I’ll leave. We’ll elope and we’ll have a little house and you can put whatever you want in it,”</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>“Yes! Marry me, please,”</p><p>“I’m not cut out for marriage, you know. I’m a shinobi, I don’t want kids, I could always be gone at the whim of the hokage,”</p><p>“Tenten, I don’t give a damn about kids and I’ll follow you on every mission like a dog if that’s what you need. I just need to have your ring on my finger. I just need you *here*,”</p><p>“Come here,”</p><p>He edged closer to her, never letting go of her hand. She traced his jaw with her unoccupied thumb.</p><p>“I would’ve married you in a heartbeat.”</p><p>Neji lowered his head so it was nearly on his knees as Tenten simply laid there, her hand moving to his hair.</p><p>“Don’t make me leave without a goodbye,” her voice was reduced to a whisper.</p><p>“I c-can’t,”</p><p>“Come on, Hyuuga genius. Just tell me...that you’ll live for me,”</p><p>He shook his head, tears dropping into the dust to mix with blood and sweat and sand.</p><p>She took a last look at him and drifted off.</p><p>•••</p><p>She woke up wrapped in cloud-like softness and bright white light. Everything was pale and empty and numb.</p><p>But she was awake, and whether she was dead or not was up for debate, so she forced her eyes open and was met with the gorgeous, piercing eyes of the man she’d left behind.</p><p>Wait.</p><p>“Neji?” Her voice was hoarse beyond recognition but Neji’s responding smile made up for it tenfold.</p><p>“I told you I wouldn’t let you leave me like that,”</p><p>“Where...where am I?” She tried to lift her head up only for Neji’s smooth hands to press her back down.</p><p>“You’re at the Hyuuga compound. The hospital staff is stretched thin, and you needed to be watched constantly. Sakura is always two minutes away. You’re safe. Are you in pain?”</p><p>She squinted up at him. “I thought I was dead.”</p><p>His smile faltered. “I almost lost you. But now, you’re safe. You need to rest. I’ll call for Sakura,”</p><p>“No, Neji,” she grabbed his hand as he made to stand and pulled him into her with surprising strength. “Thank you.”</p><p>“You never have to thank me for that. Tenten, I’ll always protect you,”</p><p>She sat up, not letting go of him.</p><p>“Hey, please, be careful,”</p><p>She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his neck. “Neji.”</p><p>He cradled her to his chest almost involuntarily. “Ten?”</p><p>She shivered and curled even further into him, if it were possible. “Let me have this, please,”</p><p>“Take your time,” his chest got tight and his possessive instincts flared like fire inside him, “I’m not going anywhere and neither are you.”</p><p>Her shaking only increased in severity and Neji could feel dampness against the skin of his neck.</p><p>“Alright, alright,” he soothed. “Relax, Tenten,”</p><p>She took a sharp breath when he tried to pull away and her nails dug into his shirt. “Can’t breathe.”</p><p>Neji rubbed her sides lightly and pushed her back onto the bed. “You’re panicking. Let your chest relax and open.” He rested his palm over her sternum, the most skin-to-skin contact they’d maybe ever had.</p><p>Tenten felt her heartbeat slow from its erratic pace, if only a little. Her eyes searched his. “Lay with me.”</p><p>Neji swallowed at the implications of that—if someone walked in they would jump to conclusions, but Tenten’s well being took precedence for him. He laid beside her and held her tightly when she curled up against his chest, arms around him once again.</p><p>“Is this helping?” His lips brushed against her temple.</p><p>“Yeah,” she said shakily. “If I fall asleep, will you be here when I wake up?”</p><p>“Do you want me to be?”</p><p>“Neji...honestly,” she bit her lip. “I thought I was dead. I thought I was ready for that but it’s left me a lot more shook up than I thought it would and I don’t even know how much time has passed since, and I don’t want to be without you right now. I just want a night where I don’t have to worry. I can’t...I don’t know...yes, I want you to be there.”</p><p>Neji nodded, considered. “I’ll take care of you, if you want me to. Just put it in my hands.”</p><p>Neji started rubbing her back and she sighed blissfully, the thickly corded muscles there beginning to relax under his ministrations. The intimacy was incredible and incredibly chaste — Neji had refused to even slip underneath the sheet, and it was still separating them below the waist.</p><p>“You won’t think less of me?”</p><p>Neji laughed gently. “I couldn’t think less of you if you tried to kill me. You’re a brilliant and strong shinobi, but you’re hurt, Tenten, and I will always be there for you. That’s a promise,”</p><p>She judged him playfully. “You got soft while I was out,”</p><p>“What, me? Not ever.” He pulled her closer as his hand ghosted over her bandages.</p><p>There was a moment of natural silence. “I’m scared, Neji.”</p><p>“Now you’re scared? You’re a dork,”</p><p>That got a smile from her. “Yeah, but you love me,”</p><p>She froze as she remembered her supposed final moments and the changed weight of those words between them, but Neji was, as always, unwavering. “Yeah, I do.”</p><p>Tenten pushed herself up instantly, only to fold back into the bed at the jolt of pain in her side. Neji was hovering over her in a second flat.</p><p>“Be careful! Don’t do that,”</p><p>Her teeth were gritted, eyes screwed shut, but she refused to make a sound. “Don’t say something like that, then!”</p><p>“Ten,” Neji leaned back a little to give her space. “You said it first. Do you remember that?”</p><p>“Of course I do. But I thought you were just...humoring me in my last moments, I don’t know. Jesus Christ, Neji, you cant just dump that on a girl,”</p><p>“You’re crazy, you know that? I can’t imagine I was subtle with my pining all this time,”</p><p>“It’s hard to tell fact from fiction when you’re on your death bed.”</p><p>Neji winced. “It’s been three days, and I still can’t stand to think about that,”</p><p>“Three?! What the hell?!”</p><p>“It was bad,” he said softly. “Sakura wasn’t sure if you’d pull through. I was. I won’t ever give up faith in you. That’s why I’m so sure about my love for you, Tenten. Because I know you.”</p><p>Tenten studied him for a long moment, then slowly began laughing, which quickly dissolved to coughs. “Can you picture it? Us, an old married couple?”</p><p>He grinned, look over at her. “Of course I can. Kiba bullies me about it all the time,”</p><p>She rolled back onto her side and threw an arm over his waist, head pillowed on his chest. “Tell me how it’d be, then.”</p><p>“We can live wherever you want. I don’t care if the Hyuugas like it, whatever makes you happy. We’ll be partners, in the field and at home. I’d like to get a cat. Do you like cats?”</p><p>She nodded sleepily and he put a hand on her shoulder.</p><p>“An orange one, maybe. Some plants in a window. I’d cook for you.”</p><p>“You can cook?”</p><p>“Sure, I can. One of us has to, anyway, and I know you’re hopeless in the kitchen.”</p><p>“You’re real housewife potential, babe,”</p><p>“Hush. We could do missions together, and have Gai and Lee over for dinners sometimes. We’d be a cool aunt and uncle duo, if our friends had kids,”</p><p>“Can I be the uncle?”</p><p>“You’re very funny,” he flicked her forehead. “What would you want for us?”</p><p>“I think I’d be alright with anything as long as I was the girl getting your goodnight kiss.”</p><p>“Who got soft while you were out?”</p><p>She shoved him lightly, making no move to leave whatsoever. “I like your idea,”</p><p>“So, would you consider it? Marriage? I know you said it didn’t really fit with your plans, but it doesn’t have to be so traditional. I don’t need kids, don’t really even want them. I’d never expect you to be less than what you are, and what you are is an excellent warrior and—“</p><p>Tenten cut her off with a kiss, gentle and warm and just like Neji had dreamed of.</p><p>“Oh.” He blinked. “Is that a yes to considering?”</p><p>“That’s a yes to marriage.”</p><p>“Oh. Oh, kami. Really?”</p><p>“I wish I’d known all it would take is a kunai to the gut to make the Hyuuga prodigy trip over himself.”</p><p>“All it takes is you. If you ever get stabbed again, I’ll end you myself.”</p><p>She settled into him, finally let herself rest. “Good thing you’re sexy, or I’d never let you talk to me like that.”</p>
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